Figueira da Foz

Figueira da Foz, is a city of the district of Coimbra, in Portugal, and the seat of the county government, located at the mouth of the river Mondego, 40Km West of Coimbra, and sheltered by the Serra (mountain) da Boa Viagem.

It is a coastal city with several beaches, summer and seaport facilities in the Atlantic Ocean coast. As a city of tourism it plays an important part in the centre of the country. A zone of legal gambling, you find here one of the biggest casinos of the Iberian Peninsula – the Casino Peninsular.

The city is an important industrial centre, producing paper, paperboard and glass. It has also a notable naval construction and fish industries.

According to the legend the place’s name is due to a fig tree, which stood at the quay of Salmanha, where the fishermen used to tie up their boats. The historian Nelson Borges said, however, that Figueira comes from the word "fagaria", which means "opening, huge mouth". Foz comes from the Latin word "fouces" = "mouth of a river", and Mondego comes from the pre-romanic expressions "mond" = "mouth" and "aec"= "river". That means, Figueira da Foz would be "the river’s mouth opening".

Some historical traces show that people were settling in this region since the neolithic age. The oldest kown document, however, dates from the year 1096. In this an abbot named Pedro donates estates, which belonged to the church of S. Julião, to the cathedral Sé Velha of Coimbra.

Knowing the great importance rivers had in the development of cities and of ancient civilisations, the mouth of the Mondego must have played a central role for the fixation of men in this region and for the formation of settlements, which were the beginning of the city of Figueira da Foz. It was elevated to "vila" (small town) on March 12th, 1771 and turned city on Setember 20th, 1882.

Discovered as a sea resort by the end of the 19th century, it gained great reputation in the 1920‘s and 1930‘s.